Arachnophobia
by Lunar lit skies
Summary: When Haruka comes over to Makoto's apartment, an uninvited guest decides to show up. One-shot


Arachnophobia

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own Free! nor any of the characters found within it._

Haruka let out a dreary sigh. "You have got to be kidding me…"

Within the walls of Makoto's apartment, a tiny intruder lurked. Makoto stared at the creature, frozen in shock. He was quivering erratically at the sight of the monster resting on the wall slightly above his mattress. Tiny whimpering sounds escaped Makoto's throat.

"Makoto. Calm down it's just a SPIDER."

Makoto tore his gaze away from the spider and onto Haruka. "No it is not 'JUST A SPIDER'; it's a dangerous spider that's probably venomous, deadly, and-"

"Makoto calm down! I get it, you're afraid of the spider. Just kill it."

Makoto gaped at Haruka's blatant reply. "No! I'm not going to kill an innocent spider; it's never done anything to me!"

Haruka huffed, beginning to lose his patience. "Then what do you think we should do about it?"

Makoto paused, thinking for a moment. During that time, the spider began to slowly slink up the wall towards the ceiling. It wasn't a very big spider, but its legs were freakishly long for its size. As the spider traveled up the wall Haruka felt slightly disturbed. The way it lifted its hairy legs above its body was awkward and uncomfortable to watch. That spider had to go.

Makoto turned back towards the spider, paling as he realized how high up it had managed to get. Things just got much more difficult. Makoto turned towards Haruka.

"Watch the spider, I'll be right back."

Haruka nodded in reply, his eyes still locked on the spider's journey upwards. Makoto briefly left the room and headed towards a side closet. Opening the closet door, he rummaged through the cluster looking for something long that the spider could snatch onto. He found a broom that seemed like it would work, and carried it back towards his bedroom.

Makoto frowned, staring around the blank walls of the bedroom. "Haru… where's the spider?"

Haruka was sitting on his bed staring upwards at the ceiling. He reached out his arm and points straight up. Makoto followed his arm up to the ceiling. There the spider rested, clinging to the ceiling upside down. He was going to have to stand directly under the spider in order to be able to reach it with the broom.

Makoto began to tremble again, the broom swaying unsteadily in his hands. Noticing this, Haruka slid off Makoto's bed and snatched the broom out of his hands.

"I'll do it."

Makoto shot Haruka a grateful glance, before return his gaze to the spider. He didn't like this. The spider looked as if it was watching them with its eight beady black eyes, planning some sort of attack. Its stillness was unsettling and eerie considering how much it had moved before.

Haruka climbed back onto of Makoto's bed, positioning himself under the spider.

"Be careful Haru!"

Haruka gave a quick nod of his head, concentrating on the creature above him. He reached upwards, the broom gently brushing the ceiling beside the spider. No reaction. He tried again, this time gently brushing the left legs on the spider. This time the spider shifted slightly, but then stilled once more. Haruka let out an irritated huff of breath, reaching up towards the ceiling once more. The spider jerked to the side once again, then leapt.

Makoto let out a shriek, then quickly grabbed Haruka's shoulder; jerking him away from the falling spider. Haruka's body was slammed against Makoto, throwing him backwards. The two tumbled off of the bed; crashing into the hard floor below. Makoto let out a strangled cough, feeling the force of the impact knock the wind out of him. Haruka lay under Makoto's body, coughing and struggling to free himself.

Wheezing, Makoto rolled off of Haruka. Haruka took in a long gasp of breath, then slowly exhaled. His body was shuddering slightly, still not having fully recovered from the impact of Makoto's body crashing down on him.

"Sorry… Haru..." Makoto managed to choke out.

Haruka shot him a vengeful glare, struggling to regain his composure. As Haruka's mind cleared, a shadow began to fall over his features.

"Haru? What's wrong?"

Haruka let out a groan, standing up. His eyes gazed onto the rumpled bed, confirming his suspicions. The spider was crawling on Makoto's bed, working its way under the dark covers. It lingered in the light of the room for a brief moment, then vanished under Makoto's sheets.

"The spider... Makoto that spider is in your bed."

…

Carefully, Makoto and Haruka lifted the first cover on Makoto's bed. They gazed under it, checking to see if there was any sign of the spider. Satisfied that it was not there, the two tossed the cover to the floor of the room then moved on to examine the next blanket. They repeated this process two more times, the covers from the bed strewn about the room. It was only after the fourth cover left the bed when the spider revealed itself once again.

It lay in the center of the sheets, comfortable and still. Trying to not make any sudden movements that would alarm the spider, Makoto reached carefully across the bed, a red plastic cup in his hands. The cup hovered over the spider for a moment, but the bug refused to allow itself to be captured. It skittered away from the looming cup, towards Haruka's side of the bed. Armed with an empty coffee cup, Haruka attempted to seize the fleeing spider before it managed to escape. Noticing it was cornered, the spider fled towards the front of the bedframe, leaping into the empty air.

Makoto and Haruka pursued, swinging their beverage cups towards the floor. The spider continued to nimbly dance out of the way, evading its capture. Haruka's eyes began to twitch with irritation. This was ridiculous! They were being outdone by a simple SPIDER.

Furious, Haruka slammed his cup down, barely missing the spider. The force of the impact on the floor stunned the spider for a brief moment, allowing Makoto to slam his plastic cup over it. It was done. Finally, the damned spider had been caught.

They slid a thin piece of paper under the cup, then carried it to the window. Once they lifted the covering, the spider gently rolled off of the paper and into the evening air. The two watched as its light body was carried away by a gust of wind. It was gone.

Makoto let out a sigh of relief. "Finally…"

"That was getting way too out of hand," Haruka agreed.

The pair headed back towards Makoto's bedroom, satisfied with their work. Haruka entered first, Makoto trailing after him. Haruka suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

"Makoto… There's three spiders in your room."

Makoto began to stay the night at Haruka's apartment much more often after that.


End file.
